Monoclonal antibodies of the IgG type contain two identical antigen-binding arms and a constant domain (Fc). Antibodies with a differing specificity in their binding arms usually do not occur in nature and, therefore, have to be crafted with the help of chemical engineering (e.g., chemical cross-linking, etc.), recombinant DNA and/or cell-fusion technology.
Bispecific antibodies can bind simultaneously two different antigens. This property enables the development of therapeutic strategies that are not possible with conventional monoclonal antibodies. The large panel of imaginative bispecific antibody formats that has been developed reflects the strong interest for these molecules. See Berg J, Lotscher E, Steimer K S, et al., “Bispecific antibodies that mediate killing of cells infected with human immunodeficiency virus of any strain,” Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (1991) 88(11): 4723-4727 and Fischer N and Leger O., “Biospecific Antibodies: Molecules That Enable Novel Therapeutic Strategies,” Pathobiology (2007) 74:3-14.
Another class of multispecific molecules is recombinant fusion proteins. Recombinant fusion proteins consisting of the extracellular domain of immunoregulatory proteins and the constant (Fc) domain of immunoglobulin (Ig) represent a growing class of human therapeutics. Immunoadhesins combine the binding region of a protein sequence, with a desired specificity, with the effector domain of an antibody. Immunoadhesins have two important properties that are significant to their potential as therapeutic agents: the target specificity, and the pharmacokinetic stability (half-life in vivo that is comparable to that of antibodies). Immunoadhesins can be used as antagonist to inhibit or block deleterious interactions or as agonist to mimic or enhance physiological responses. See Chamow S M, Zhang D Z, Tan X Y, et al., “A humanized, bispecific immunoadhesin-antibody that retargets CD3+ effectors to kill HIV-1-infected cells,” J Hematother 1995; 4(5): 439-446.
Other multispecific molecules have been discussed elsewhere. Examples include but are not limited to: Fisher et al., Pathobiology (2007) 74:3-14 (review of various bispecific formats); U.S. Pat. No. 6,660,843, issued Dec. 9, 2003 to Feige et al. (peptibodies); US Pat. Publ. No. 2002-004587 published Jan. 10, 2002 (multispecific antibodies); U.S. Pat. No. 7,612,181 issued Nov. 3, 2009 to Wu et al. (Dual Variable Domain format); U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,628, Nord K et al., Prot Eng (1995) 8:601-608, Nord K et al., Nat Biotech (1997) 15:772-777, and Grönwall et al., Biotechnol Appl Biochem. (2008) June; 50(Pt 2):97-112 (Affibodies); Martens et al., Clin Cancer Res (2006), 12: 6144-6152 and Jin et al., Cancer Res (2008) 68(11):4360-4368 (one armed antibodies); Bostrom et al., Science (2009) 323:1610-1614 (Dual Action Fab, aka mixed valency antibodies). Other formats are known to those skilled in the art.
The manufacturing of clinical grade material remains challenging for antibodies generally and especially for the multispecific molecules described above. As noted above, there are many paths to the production of molecules with mixed binding arms, i.e., binding arms that are not identical to each other. But each of these methods has its drawbacks.
Chemical cross-linking is labor intensive as the relevant species may yet need to be purified from homodimers and other undesirable by-products. In addition, the chemical modification steps can alter the integrity of the proteins thus leading to poor stability. Thus, this method is often inefficient and can lead to loss of antibody activity.
Cell-fusion technology (e.g., hybrid hybridomas) express two heavy and two light chains that assemble randomly leading to the generation of 10 antibody combinations. The desired heteromultimeric antibodies are only a small fraction of the antibodies thus produced. Purification of the desired heteromultimeric proteins dramatically reduces production yields and increases manufacturing costs.
Recombinant DNA techniques have been used to generate various heteromultimeric formats, e.g., single chain Fv, diabodies, etc., that do not comprise an Fc domain. A major drawback for this type of antibody molecule is the lack of the Fc domain and thus the ability of the antibody to trigger an effector function (e.g., complement activation, Fc-receptor binding etc.). Thus, a bispecific antibody comprising a functional Fc domain is desired.
Recombinant DNA techniques have also been used to generate ‘knob into hole’ bispecific antibodies. See US Patent Application 20030078385 (Arathoon et al.—Genentech). One constraint of this strategy is that the light chains of the two parent antibodies have to be identical to prevent mispairing and formation of undesired and/or inactive molecules when expressed in the same cell.
In addition, one of the limiting events during annealing and purification is the redox efficiency. Oxidized heterodimer typically only makes up 70-80% of the protein after this step (BioAnalyzer and MS-TOF). The remaining 20-30% of antibody is dimeric and lacks a covalent linkage (SEC-LLS). This can be removed but significantly impacts overall yields. Thus, there remains a need to improve the overall yield in antibody production, especially heterodimers. Described herein are methods that can improve overall yield of bispecific antibodies, heterodimers and the like. These and other aspects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.